Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2015 Co-op City Times
Riverbay’s water safety plan protects Co-op City residents during legionella outbreak in South Bronx Vol. 50 No. 32
As the city and state struggled to get a handle on the widespread legionella outbreak in the South Bronx that claimed 12 lives and sickened 121, government officials were surprised to learn that legionella bacteria is prevalent throughout the Bronx, that at least 20 cooling towers in the county tested positive for the legionella bacteria, that no central registry of cooling towers in the city exists, and that regular testing and reporting of bacteria levels in cooling towers is not required by existing law. As a result, government officials were urged to consider the water safety plan in place at Co-op City as a model for all cooling towers in the City of New York. In the past, Riverbay followed industry standards for water treatment and conBY ROZAAN BOONE
Saturday, August 15, 2015
tinuously employed an outside water treatment company to chemically treat and test the water in its cooling tower. After an outbreak of legionella in the Bronx last year, Riverbay increased its monitoring, reporting and water treatment efforts above industry standards. Working with one of the top scientists in the field, Riverbay developed a protocol which provides that water in the cooling tower is tested 7 days a week to ensure proper chemistry is maintained, and that cooling tower water is sampled monthly for bacteria by an independent, certified laboratory proficient in legionella detection. As news spread of the South Bronx outbreak in late July, Riverbay’s monthly sample was collected on July 29 and
Section 5 Fun Day is next Saturday, Aug. 22
The Section 5 Association will present their 2nd annual Family Fun Day next Saturday, August 22, 12 to 6 p.m. on the Section 5 Greenway and the day promises to be full of family-oriented activities, giveaways and wholesome entertainment. The Section 5 Association, com-
BY ROZAAN BOONE
(Continued on page 16)
posed of the presidents of the associations of Buildings 26 through 35, as well as the Earhart Lane Town-houses, is inviting the entire comm-unity to attend the event and enjoy the activities that have been planned which are geared towards (Continued on page 4)
Public Safety begins regular use of body cameras during patrols Body cameras worn by some Co-op City Public Safety officers during their duty shifts will go fully operational starting on Monday, Aug. 17. “The body camera program will be in full effect on Monday,” said Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo. “It’s still in the roll-out phase involving 25 cameras and down the road, if it proves successful, we will expand it. “We are continuing to work to make the Public Safety Department transparent by implementing this advanced technology equipment here in Co-op City and we will continue to do so as more innovative tools become available to help us protect the community as well as our officers,” Chief Apollo said. A certain amount of cameras will be available for some of the officers on each shift. The other cameras not in use on a shift need to be recharged or downloaded. More storage space will BY JIM ROBERTS
be required for the videos as more cameras are purchased. A trial period using two cameras in January proved very successful, Chief Apollo said. At its April 22 meeting, the Riverbay Board of Directors unanimously approved a program calling for the placement of body cameras on Co-op City’s Public Safety officers. The cameras and maintenance program are being purchased from Taser International, Inc., one of two camera technologies tried out by the Public Safety Department during two limited thirty-day trial periods this past winter. During the vast amount of time that each officer equipped with a camera is on patrol, the cameras will not be turned on. The cameras are only activated according to policies established by Public Safety. The cameras can be activated with just the push of a button (Continued on page 2)
25¢
HUD demands Riverbay Board select outside managing agent by end of August A federal agency that gained oversight authority of Co-op City in November, 2012 through the community’s $621 million mortgage refinancing has directed the Riverbay Board of Directors in a July 31st letter to select an outside management company two weeks from now or face consequences. The battle between the Riverbay Board and the mortgage holders has been ongoing for the past three months and could be headed for a face-to-face meeting, according to the Board’s First Vice President, Linda Berk. With the Riverbay Board President Cleve Taylor out of the country on vacation, Berk said this is exactly what the president has been looking forward to – an opportunity to sit down and meet with the three agencies. “The letter was a balanced approach to HCR and HUD’s concerns, but most importantly, they offered Riverbay the opportunity to sit down and discuss our wants and needs,” said First Vice President Berk. “As a community, we’re looking forward to them hearing our concerns and considering other options.” In the July 31 letter sent from the HUD BY JIM ROBERTS
regional office in New York City, Board President Taylor is ordered to “… provide both HUD and HCR with the name of a proposed new management agent …” within 30 days. The letter to Board President Taylor states: “Failure to take corrective action may result in issuance of a Notice of Violation of Regulatory Agreement, and the Oversight Entities [HUD, Wells Fargo and HCR] may pursue any and all available remedies, either jointly or severally.” The letter from HUD does not specify what actions that might include. This is the second such letter sent to the Board this year. The Board received a similar letter dated May 15 from the state supervisory agency HCR making the same demand. “Please be advised that further delay in selecting a management agent runs the risk that Riverbay will receive a ‘notice of non-monetary default’ under the mortgage and that the lender will seek all appropriate remedies,” the HCR letter stated. Wells Fargo provided the $621 million mortgage refinancing that reduced Co-op City’s mortgage interest payments by millions of dollars and provided funding
Riverbay Open House Job Fair for temp positions Tuesday, Aug. 18 (Continued on page 2)
(See page 7 “Opportunities at Co-op City.”) Boiler Transport
New boiler on its way…The massive 150-ton boiler that was custom-built at the manufacturer’s plant in Oklahoma was loaded onto a trailer this week for transport to a barge for the first league of its 31-day journey to Co-op City. The shallow barge will take the boiler to Louisiana, then travel though the Gulf and the Atlantic and reload to an ocean-going vessel which will then bring the boiler to the Port of New Jersey.